“I want you to listen to me,” Jessie said. “You’re having a stroke but I’m here. We’re going to get you help, and everything is going to be all right.”
“Would it be faster to just take her?” Joe asked when he returned with the bag.
“Bad idea. The paramedics have life-saving drugs and equipment in the ambulance. Get me a glass of water. Quickly.” Jessie pulled an aspirin bottle out of her bag and shook one out. “Mom, open up.” But instead of opening her mouth she began to babble again. Jessie pushed in the aspirin and put the glass of water to her lips. “Come on, swallow it.”
“Isn’t that for a heart attack?” Joe asked.
“For clots. If she has had an ischemic stroke, which is the case eighty-five percent of the time, the aspirin can prevent a second stroke caused by blood clots. If it’s a hemorrhage, not a good idea. We’re going with the numbers. Her symptoms indicate a stroke, hopefully a transient attack that we’re catching in time.” She dug around in her purse for her cell phone, calling up a number. She held her mother’s hand while she waited impatiently.
“Patrick, thank you for taking my call. I’m with my mother, she’s had a stroke. I gave her an aspirin and will ride in the ambulance with her. Are you available? I want her with the best.”
“Take her to Mercy. I’m on my way.”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Jessie smiled at her mother and gently smoothed back her hair. “You’re in the best hands in the city.” Anna responded with her blather. Jessie just said, “It’s okay, this will pass, I promise.” And then Jessie did something she rarely did. She prayed.
She looked at Bess, who was crying, rocking and biting her fingers. Not her fingernails, her fingers. Jessie reached over to her and pulled her hands from her mouth. “It’s okay, she’s going to be okay. Michael will stay with you and I’m taking Mama to the hospital. I will come back to you when I can but first I want to take care of Mama. Bess, stop biting, we’ll be okay.”
“Jessie, what can I do?” Joe asked. “Can I go with?”
“She’s going to ICU, possibly to surgery. They aren’t going to let you in but if you make sure Michael has your number, I’ll be in touch with him and he can let you know what’s happening. We caught it right away. Her odds of surviving this with a drug as opposed to surgery—excellent. I won’t leave her. I promise.”
The sound of sirens could be heard and it was only moments until two paramedics brought a gurney, following Michael down the hall and into the family room. Jessie stood and told them she was a doctor, had given an aspirin and called Dr. Monahan, who was meeting them at Mercy Hospital in San Francisco.
“Michael, you’ve got Bess and I’ll call you as soon as possible.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s going to be all right. Don’t leave Bess.”
“I won’t. Call me, Jess.”
It was a very long day of tests and examinations for Anna and Jessie never left her side. An IV had been started in the ambulance, and when it had been established that a clot or clots had caused the stroke, a drug had been administered via IV to bust apart the clot. It was successful but the amount of damage caused by the interruption of blood flow remained in question.
While Anna was going through tests and exams, Jessie made a few phone calls. To her brother, of course, who would pass information on to Bess and Joe. Then she called Phoebe, the clerk of court, who would notify everyone in the judge’s office and arrange to have Anna’s cases passed on to another judge. She called the memory care unit where Blanche was housed, even though it was questionable whether Blanche would even be able to make sense of the news. She called her aunt and uncle, Chad’s brother and sister, and asked them to notify other family on that side. And she called her office and two of her partners to explain that she’d be taking some time off to oversee her mother’s care and make sure she was settled.
Then she took her place at Anna’s bedside. Anna was still babbling but every so often she caught a real word and that alone gave her hope.
Jessie had seen Patrick on and off through the day. They spoke only briefly and only about Anna’s condition. Patrick was very hopeful that the damage caused by the stroke had been minor and that Anna would make a full recovery. Then at nine that night, Patrick came to Anna’s room with a large latte in a paper cup and a breakfast croissant in a bag.
“Have you eaten at all today?” he asked her.
“Cookies,” she said. “I don’t have much of an appetite. I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you for what you did for me today.”
“You would have done as much for me,” he said. “And aside from helping you find the best neurological team, I wasn’t needed. Eat a little of this if you can. You have to keep your strength up.” He glanced at Anna. She looked peaceful enough, as though she was resting, but her lips were moving, and when Patrick leaned close, Anna was softly reciting numbers. Not counting, just running numbers. “Don’t be surprised if that goes on through the night.”
“Isn’t it the weirdest thing?”
“What’s weird is that it’s all making perfect sense to her. Tomorrow she’ll be a little more alert. Her blood pressure is stable, and when she’s coherent, we’ll have her evaluated and order some therapy. We won’t know how much will be necessary for a few days. But she’ll recover.”
“Will she be back to her normal self?” Jessie asked.
He shrugged. “The potential is there, Jessie. I don’t detect any left-sided weakness or paralysis. It’s perfectly safe for you to go home.”
“I intend to be here when she wakes up.”
“You came in the ambulance. Where is your car?”
“I was at my mom’s when she stroked. My car is there. After she’s awake and at least knows where she is and what has happened, I’ll Uber to her house to pick up my car, maybe get a change of clothes.”
“I’m leaving now. I can take you to your mother’s if you like. I have patients in the morning and won’t be able to leave once the day starts.”
“I understand completely,” she said. “Lord knows you’ve done enough for one day and night. I promise, I don’t expect anything more.”
“Expectations aside, don’t hesitate to call. I mean it, Jessie.”
“That’s very sweet, Patrick, thank you.” Given their history, she was amazed he’d even answered the phone when he saw it was her number. “By the way, I’ve been keeping company with an old friend of yours, Dr. Norton.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Are you, now? How do you like him?”
“I think he’s wonderful actually. Thank you for that.”
“Glad to help. I switched your mother over to the neurology team—they’re outstanding. They’ll oversee her recovery. My work here is just about done—glad there was no surgery involved. I’ll keep tabs on her progress, of course.”
“My mother had the three of us together, just by accidental chance, and she said there was something she wanted to tell us. I got the impression it was something important, then right at that moment she checked out and began babbling.”
“If it was important, it’ll come back to her.”
“The way that worked out, the three of us together, I’m glad it went that way.” She got a little misty. “This could have been so much worse. After just losing my dad, I don’t know what I’d do without my mom.”
He put a hand on her shoulder. “You didn’t lose her, Jessie. In large part due to your quick thinking and experience. Try to get some rest tonight. And call me if you need me.”
“That’s very kind of you, Patrick. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“Not necessary, Jess. Just take care of yourself.”
Anna was confused and restless. She couldn’t remember any details from the day before. They said she had a stroke but all she could remember was that no one understood what she was saying, though it all made perfect sense to her. She felt impossibly tired but she was afraid to sleep. She kept dropping off and would awaken with a start, afraid she might wake in another strange place.
She saw the bag and tubing running from her arm upward but she couldn’t remember what it was called. She wondered how much of her brain was left; she felt like a stranger in a strange land.